Telkom still offers network projects to private firms
Telkom still offers network projects to private firms
JAKARTA (JP): Private firms still have the opportunity to
establish and operate telecommunications networks under a
joint operation arrangement with PT Telkom, an official said.
"Even though the state-owned domestic telecommunications
provider PT Telkom has signed contracts with five private firms
to install and operate some two million lines for a 15-year
period, other businesses are still available," Director General
of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria Purawidjaja told
reporters yesterday.
He said after delivering a presentation at a three-day seminar
on infrastructure that based on government regulation No. 8/1993,
private firms are able to participate in the telecommunications
business under three different arrangements -- the joint
operation arrangement, join venture scheme and management
contract.
Djakaria said under the joint operation arrangement, potential
small-scale telecommunications projects include the installation
of fixed-telephone lines at housing or commercial estates.
"Telkom, for example, can offer such contracts to private
firms for the installation of telephone networks at the Sudirman
Central Business District in South Jakarta and the Kemayoran
business area in Central Jakarta," he said, adding that companies
can file proposals for such business.
Telkom signed last month joint operation contracts with five
foreign joint ventures, which will install some two million
telephone lines and operate them along with existing lines. The
projects, effective as of January 1996, are expected to bring a
total revenue of Rp 15.25 trillion (approximately US$6.7 billion)
for Telkom within the next 15 years.
Among the joint ventures are PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara (which
will install 516,487 lines in Sumatra), PT Aria West
International (500,000 lines in West Java), PT Mitra Global
Telekomunikasi Indonesia (400,000 lines in Central Java), PT Daya
Mitra Malindo (237,000 lines in Kalimantan) and PT Bukaka Sing
Tel (403,000 lines in the country's eastern provinces comprising
of Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya and Nusa Tenggara).
The five projects are part of the government's program to
install five million telephone lines within the current Sixth
Five-Year Development Plan period which will end in March, 1999.
Three million of the total will be installed in the greater
Jakarta area and East Java by Telkom.
Local contractors
In a related development, an executive said yesterday that
domestic telecommunications contractors are ready to participate
in the establishment of the two million telephone lines already
awarded to the joint ventures.
"In West Java, eight local companies have established a
consortium and proposed cooperation with Aria West
International," chief of the investment department of the
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's West Java chapter,
Nina Mariana, said.
She said that the consortium had also held a presentation for
Aria West.
Aria West has not made any response but said that meetings
should be arranged to discuss the proposal, she said.
Many domestic contractors are worried that the five joint
ventures will look for giant sub-contractors for their projects
and will apparently prefer to assign foreign companies, she said.
(icn)